Shopping Cart: Injera Crisps

CRUNCH IT: To call the Injera Crisps from Rockville-based Tsiona Foods addictive would be putting it mildly. The chips, made from pieces of the Ethio­pian flatbread injera, are the creation of Tsiona Bellete, who first made the crunchy bites at her Sheba Restaurant in Rockville. “We started serving the injera chips with brown lentil hummus, then everybody liked it,” says Bellete. As demand outgrew supply, Bellete and her husband, Samuel Seium, started making the crisps (plus other products, including stew mixes and — coming soon — hot sauces) at a facility near the restaurant.

The crisps, with that signature injera tang, come in four varieties: spicy, mild, cinnamon sugar, and sea salt and garlic. We tried the spicy ones, made fiery with mitmita, a piercing blend of bird’s-eye chili peppers, cardamom and other spices. Each variety is made from a combination of white, barley and teff flours; Bellete is experimenting with gluten-free crisps as well.

Watch out, pita chips; you have competition.

— Kara Elder

6 ounces, $3.49-$3.99. tsionafoods.com. Widely available (primarily at Ethio­pian markets) in the District, Maryland and Virginia. Find them in the District at Windows Cafe and Market; in Alexandria at Jano Mart; and in Silver Spring at Ethi­o­pia Plus . Note that crisps may be labeled with the name “Desta,” the company’s former name.